ThermoWorks ChefAlarm Cooking Thermometer

This week’s review is on the ChefAlarm Cooking Thermometer from ThermoWorks.

The ChefAlarm is a commercial quality probe-style cooking thermometer with alarm.

It has a large, very easy to read backlit LCD display and a long battery life. Plus, the ChefAlarm can be used in a flat or upright position, whatever works best for you.

The ChefAlarm comes with a 3ft 11in long Pro-Series High Temp Cooking Probe (has a range of -58°F to 572°F and a cable max temp to 700°F), a probe clip, and a zippered hard case to hold and store everything.

Below are pictures of everything that was included in the package.

The ChefAlarm has a Max/Min temperature display on it which shows you the maximum peak temperature and the minimum starting temperature of the food you’re cooking. It also has a high alarm which tells you when you’ve reached your desired set temperature and a low alarm when you’ve reached a descending temperature target. The low alarm is perfect for yogurt and desserts.

On the back of the ChefAlarm is a power On/Off button, Celsius/Fahrenheit button and a Calibration button (it comes calibrated +/- 1.8°F from the factory, but you can fine tune it yourself if needed).

There are also magnets on the back if you want to mount your ChefAlarm to something while using it.

To test the ChefAlarm out for my review, I decided to cook a 5lb pork butt on my Large Infinity Series Grill Dome Kamado.

The night before my cook I set the adjustable volume on the ChefAlarm to the highest setting level (92dB) and then set the high alarm to go off when the pork butt reached an internal temperature of 195°F.

After that was done, I rubbed the 5lb pork butt with my go to pork rub, Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub. Then I wrapped the pork butt in plastic wrap and placed it in the fridge overnight.

Early the next morning I poured some lump charcoal into my Grill Dome. I then placed in the Grill Dome Indirect Cooking Rack and lit a fire starter in the middle of the lump. Once the lump was lit a little I placed in my foil wrapped clay saucer that I use as my heat diffuser. I then adjusted the lower sliding damper and the upper vent to help get to the desired temp of 250°F.

Once the Grill Dome was up to 250°F I put on the 5lb pork butt. I then powered-on the ChefAlarm and slid the cooking probe into the side of the pork butt and closed the lid of the Grill Dome.

Below is a picture to show how well the backlight worked during the early hours of my pork butt cook and below that are some pictures of the pork butt a little over half way through the cook.

At around the 10 hour mark the alarm sounded on the ChefAlarm letting me know that the pork butt had reached an internal temperature of 195°F. I removed the cooking probe from the pork butt and then wrapped it in foil and placed it in a cooler to rest for a few hours before pulling.

After the pork butt had rested for a couple hours I removed it from the foil and pulled it. As you can see in the picture below the pulled pork had a really nice colored bark and smoke ring to it. It was very delicious and pretty much gone right after I took this picture. It was some good eats for sure! 🙂

Final Thoughts

I was very impressed with the ChefAlarm! As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, ThermoWorks makes really great quality products and they did it again with the ChefAlarm.

I like that ThermoWorks offers the ChefAlarm in multiple colors like it does for its other thermometers like the Thermapen and the brand-new ThermoPop. I was also happy to see that the blue ChefAlarm matches my new Grill Dome Kamado perfectly.

Another thing I really liked, was the zippered hard case that was included with the ChefAlarm. It holds everything perfectly and I don’t have to worry about misplacing anything.

The ChefAlarm is very user friendly and was a breeze to setup before my pork butt cook.

The backlit LCD screen came in handy as well since I started my cook in the wee early morning hours. The information on the LCD screen was really easy to read and I feel this is a great feature to have on a cooking thermometer.

One thing I would love to see ThermoWorks add to their ChefAlarm is another probe so I can monitor my smoker as well as the meat I’m cooking. Other than that I couldn’t find anything that I didn’t like about this cooking thermometer.

If you’re in the market for a new cooking thermometer, the ChefAlarm should definitely be at the top of your list!

You can find a great deal on the ChefAlarm Cooking Thermometer here.

For more information on ThermoWorks ChefAlarm Cooking Thermometer please visit their Facebook & Twitter pages as well as their Website.

Thanks for leaving a comment Chris! Glad to hear you’re liking your ChefAlarm as well! I plan on using mine quite a bit too. I love how easy it is to use. Anybody could use it even without reading the instructions first. ThermoWorks makes some great quality products that is for sure! Thanks again for leaving a comment!